Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Oct 14 2007
Confronting history
Article Last Updated: 10/13/2007 09:59:38 PM PDT
REP. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo, contends that now is not the right
time for Congress to pass a resolution affirming that the deaths of
hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
constituted genocide.
But when, exactly, would be a good time, after the next genocide?
Harman, one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, now says: "We
should avoid taking steps that would embarrass or isolate the Turkish
leadership." Like President George W. Bush, she says Turkey is
playing a constructive role in the Middle East.
That is true enough for the most part. But failing to recognize the
horrors of history tarnishes America’s image as a moral force in the
world. How can we have the resolve to label the situation in Darfur
for what it is – genocide – and then soft-pedal the first genocide of
the 20th century?
Fortunately, the Foreign Affairs Committee had the will to reject
Turkey’s lobbying efforts to kill the resolution. The panel stood its
ground even though the 27-21 vote approving the resolution caused
Turkish lawmakers to threaten to cut off U.S. access to a Turkish air
base that supports U.S. operations in Iraq.
One has to wonder why a nonbinding resolution would spark such
threats.
America’s values drive our policy of encouraging democracy and human
rights in the Middle East. We water down those values when we allow
the deniers of past genocides to prevail.
If now is not the right time to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide,
it’s only because that time came long, long ago.